The norm is Monoecious but having both parts in 1 flower type surely increases chances of Fruit set ,(But is there risk for it to self pollinate? like Heirloom Tomato or Bean Flowers?). Do y’all think it’s a good trait to pursue? Has anyone seen or Grown a Watermelon Variety with both Flower parts in the same flower?
They are both part of the same Tribe Benincaseae, along with Bottle Gords (Lagenaria siceraria), Scarlit Gourd/Tindora (Coccinia grandis), Wintermelon (Benicasa hispida) & Cuccamelon (Melothria scabra) so theoretically all these plants can get that trait right? It’s not like we seen Hermaphrodital Flowers in Squash (Cucurbita spp.), Right?
I’ve had this happen. It appears to be a response to stress. Whether the flowers self pollinate or not, those plants set fruit on nearly every flower. I suspect they do self pollinate.
I personally think this would be a good trait for areas where bees are dying or rare.
My brain is stuck in tomato mode. I’m trying to remember what variety it was. I think there were two. One was Hopi Red, I can’t remember the other at the moment. They were planted in almost straight sand with heavy woodchip mulch, and I believe this was the first year I planted them dry. No water all season, but they still produced.
If it’s stress related it will stay stress related unless there are some epigenetic changes. I would think there are some plants where it’s more likely to happen, but still highly stress related. I had some watermelons from Spain and they seemed to have it more often than others so it might be a bad sign in a cool climate when it’s induced by cool weather. Probably there are some where it’s naturally occuring, but that might be a bit hard to determine. If you select for it you will likely pick up those naturally occuring eventually. Whether it’s a good trait, I don’t know. If you lack pollinators, then you engourage self-pollination. If you don’t lack them, then you will not have no need for it. Only get some added self-pollination, which might not be much, but making work for a trait that you don’t need. I would see this as a useful trait if you are farming them in large scale.
